Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode GDPI Experience (2011) - 3/3
Date: 9th March, 2011 ~ 8:30 a.m
We all were seated in a large hall ... we were close to 29-30.
Essay writing:
Time : 30 mins
Topic: Science is wonderful if one doesn't live on it (ainwee kuch tha)
I wrote about 2 pages... zyada bharne ka mauka nahi mila ...
Personal Interview:
2 panel members
p1 : one with a french beard .. a bit gol-matol and hansmukh
p2 : a bit aged compared to p1
both the panel members had a casual, laid-back nature ...
p1 comes out of the interview room.. i was sitting next to the entrance ...
p1: excuse me, what's ur name ?
me: (i look back) sir, malini
p1: (with a smile) u r next.
I enter the room ....
p1: plz take a seat..
me: thank u sir
p2: so malini, do u have any bad habits?
me : sir, to be honest, i do have a few bad habits.
p2: (laughing) what are those? because the last person just said he has no bad habits, so i said then u must be a saint.. right ??? that's not always possible, right ???
me: sir i hope that won't affect my selection (with a sheepish grin )
p1: (all smiling) no no .. u can be absolutely frank about it.
me: sir, bad habits, as in weaknesses ??
p1: no no, ur weaknesses are given there in the form. even in that some people write answers given by the coaching institutes. i'm sure ur coaching institute wouldn't have mentioned about this ques. (me smiling)
me: sir, i've been frank about my weaknesses as well. Like i have mentioned that i tend to get a bit impatient if things don't turn out in the right way.
p2: no, ur habits.
me: (thinking a bit) sir, at times i'am a bit unpunctual ... my parents feel so.
p2: no.. as in habits. for example, i drink a lot. something like that?
(me thinking really really hard)
me: i don't smoke ..
p2: that's a bad habit?
me : (smiling) no sir, m eliminating choices.
p2: ok
(and here comes the big revelation of my life )
me: sir, i'm into drinking, and my parents don't know about it
p1: (all smiling) of course u don't tell ur parents, they won't ever understand ..
me: actually, in my family no body drinks. i was in mysore, so once i accompanied my friends because i had to unload all the training pressure.
p1: so which one did u try ? beer? wine ? hard drinks.
me : vodka ( feel like sinking into the chair)
p1 : vodka ?? hahhahaha ... so how was the experience ?
me : felt dizzy
p2: so some body had to take u back and all ??
me : no sir, it wasn't needed. i made sure that m within limits and able to control myself ... (uff !!!)
p2 : so u were working ( again !!!! )
me : same explanation
p1 : so what after coming back ? u joined any institute ?
me: yes. i invested my savings and time and prepared for mba.
p1: which institute did u join ??
me : IMS
p1: they give u all the training for GD/PI right ?? ( and named a few crash course names .. i was all smiling )
p2: so u r from Kalinga Institute. it's in Orissa, right ?
me: yes sir.
p2: who's the founder?
me: Mr. Achutya Samanta
p1: what's special about him ?
me: he's the youngest chancellor according to the limca book of world records
p1: what's his age?
me: don't know sir.
p1 : what else?
me: he has established the Kalinga Institute of Social Science which encourages education among the tribal student.
p1: anything else
me: he is considered to be a great visionary, for having established such a bid university in such a young age.
p1: (again) what's his age ?
me: don't know sir.
p1: have u met him ?
me: no sir.
p1: what's ur vision? do u have any?
me: sir, to be honest, i don't have long term visions right now. at present, i'm focusing on my mba career, and shall according decide my future steps.
p2: so u don't have any long term goal.
me: no sir, i'm more focused on my short term goal.
p1: so what is it? getting into IIM and earn in 6 digits? well that's something very common.
me: yes sir, but my decisions are not to be whimsical, that i just think of it all of a sudden ... i want to analyze, and accordingly shall plan what shall i do next.
p1: u know the CM of Orissa?
me: it starts with N .. can't recall his name.
p1: Naveen Patnaik
me: yes sir.
p1: what has he done for Orissa.
me: (blank)
p1: u r not interested in politics?
me: not much sir.
p1: what do u do in free time?
me: i listen to music.
p1: what interests u ?
me : dance.
p1: which kind of dance?
me: free style.
p1: all the hindi movies style?
me: sir, that's a different criteria, it's called Bollywood Style.
p1: no, but free style is too much a generalized term.
me: free style dance originated in America, esp in the streets. it's a mix of various dance forms like hip-hop, krumping, break dance, locking and poping.
p1: where did hip-hop originate?
me: don't know sir.
p1: who's ur fav hip-hop performer?
me: as in dance or music?
p1: they are more or less the same.
me: talking about hip-hop, names pop up like jay-z, usher.
p1: what's special about hip hop.
me: it mainly consists of the rap music.
p1: anything special about the rap? as in the type of lyrics if it's positive or negative.
me: sir, that depends on the artist. like eminem mostly sings about relationships, snoop dog mentions about pleasure (couldn't be more specific), then there was a song of the Fort Minor on the American Independence.
p1: so u mean to say they mostly give a negative notion.
me: it depends sir.
p1: tell me about your family. what do your parents do ?
me: my father is in services.
p1: where?
me: he is a manager in HPCL.
p1: which section?
me: lubes .. lubricants
p1: he is in marketing?
me: yes sir.
p2: and mother?
me: she is a simple house wife.
p1: any brother or sister?
me: a younger sister. she is appearing for her boards this year.
p1: where r u from ?
me: jamshedpur.
p1: u did ur schooling from jamshedpur itself ?
me: yes sir.
p1: have u ever met ur ideal person in life?
me: sir i find my father as an inspiration.
p2: can u plz explain.
me: my native is in orissa, in a village named Sidadihi. it's truly rural in nature, it doesn't have proper electricity, and people still use the kerosene lanterns and "dibris" at night. my grandfather was a very poor man. he used to trade cattle. as in he used to buy them and sell them off in a bit higher price, just for a living. in such a situation, my father went to school in the morning, and helped out my grandfather in the evening. apart from that, he sold drumstick leaves which earned a bit of the living. in such a situation, he worked hard, was the first person to emerge as an engineer from the entire block. he did his graduation from REC Rourkela, which today is known as the NIT Rourkela. and all this while, he has come this long way that today he is a manager at HPCL. i really appreciate him for this, and find him as an inspiration.
p2: are u superstitious?
me: a bit sir.
p2: actually u r wearing so many rings. what are these for?
me: sir this one is for prosperity, and the other one is to curb the effects of shani
p2 : hope we r not the shani (all bursting into laughter)
p1: so u believe in these?
me: my parents do, so i wear them.
p2: have they been of any help ? u have been successful coz of them?
me: (i give my funda) sir, i believe one's success depends on how much belief one has in onself. these rings may affect one's stars, but it's of no use if one doesn't have faith in oneself. so i believe it has more to do with self belief.
even in the movie 3 idiots, there was a character played by Sherman Joshi who used to wear so many rings, and in the end Aamir Khan asks him to remove those.
p2: so u r trying to relate to that character?
me: no sir, m just giving an instance.
p1: so u r from Jamshedpur. recently tata's name has into been some controversies.
me: yes sir, the niira radia case and the 2G scam.
p1: what do u think of it?
me: sir, when we used to think of tata, it was something we looked upon with respect. such a situation was never expected from them, that's y this entire case is very disappointing.
p2: so what do u want to do in mba?
me: marketing?
p2: marketing in what ? in hpcl, iocl ??
me: sir, i haven't thought of it as such.
p1: but still u must have some idea.
me: in these 2 years i'll get to have an idea about what i want to do next.
p1: but still, if u r aiming for management career, u r supposed to know these.
me: sir, all i have thought of till now is that after completing my mba, i wish to join an FMCG company, because i've learnt that the experience matters a lot.
p1: name a few FMCG companies.
me: P&G, HUL
p1: so what next in FMCG company ?
me: will try to become a brand manager.
p1: now what does a brand manager do ?
me: the very manager word explains it all (me gone ghajini!!!)
p1: (smiling) but still, what's his job ..
me : (some how crawling) .. he looks into how is a particular brand being received in the market ... if there's production, but not enough sales, leading into stocks, the brand manager also need to make the people more aware of the brand, making them more assured, in order to make the brand sale (kuch kuch bol di)
p1: do u have anything to ask us?
me: no sir.
p1: nothing?
me: sir, i can't think of anything right now.
p1: is this your first interview?
me: no sir.
p1: which other interviews have u faced ?
me: sibm-pune, iit-d, iim-indore.
p1: so u r done with iim-i? how was it ?
me: it was fine sir. but i fumbled a lot.
p2: how would u rate it in a scale of 10.
me: 8 .
p2: 8?? that's 80%. that's pretty good. why do u say it did not go well?
me: that's just my perception. the end result will show how well was it.
p2: what about this one?
me: 7
p2: 7? u mean to say it was worse than the previous one ? u feel u did bad ?
me: i don't say i did bad. but i feel i could ve done better. i fumbled a lot.
p2: what about the other non-iim institutes?
me: i got through sibm-pune.
p2: ohh!! so u have been selected?
me: yes sir.
p1: when is ur next iim interview?
me: 24th
p1: bangalore?
me: no sir, lucknow
p2: ok then, we wish u all the best for the rest of the interview. may u clear all the iims.
me: thank u sir.
As i stood up and collected my docs, i saw p1 smiling at me .. i smiled back n greeted him ...
they didn't offer me a chocolate :( :( :(
Verdict: Converted
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